


The Mirror Effect

by Seeda94



Category: BookReaders, HorrorFandom - Fandom, Mysteryfandom, originalwork
Genre: Book - Freeform, Fandom, Fiction, Horror, HorrorFandom, Multi, Mystery, Psychological, Romance, originalwork - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28584267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seeda94/pseuds/Seeda94
Summary: This story is about a young lady who works in a forensic lab named Stella Jones. She lives a normal life until she makes a very disturbing discovery about herself. It is something that she cannot quite figure out unless she looks at her own reflection. This reflection is no ordinary shadow on the wall, it represents something much bigger. She always tries to remain a humble, good person, but a side of her is unleashed that is difficult for her to control. For every bad action, her other half commits she tries to cover it up with goodness. Will that be enough to hide what has been resting inside of her for years, or will it just make it angry? Stella discovers the answer the best way she can, but she may lose control before she finds a resolution to her problem.
Relationships: Colleuges, Friendships - Relationship, Romance - Relationship





	1. Chapter 1

Reflection:

Self-image can be a complicated thing. What is seen through the perspective of a reflection? It is a different story and meaning for every individual, some reflections emphasize the good and some, the evil. On a rare occasion both attributes are shown in the most extreme ways possible. Stella Jones’ story was a rare case, but that is what made it so exciting and frightening…  
Stella came from an African American and native American background, she was a strong, smart, well mannered young lady who learned to respect all different cultures and remained a very friendly person. She always tried her best everyday to do the right thing and help others the most she could, even when she could not properly help herself. She got along with basically everyone and was doing very well at her job at the forensic lab. However, due to the type of work she did she was under the impression that nothing can ever truly shock her anymore, until one day after arriving home and seeing her reflection in the bathroom mirror…  
She walked into the bathroom and she began washing up before looking up at the glass mirror, she stood still, staring deep into her reflection trying to figure out if she was hallucinating or not. What she saw was truly frightening, but more so confusing. She was looking at her own reflection, but it was altered to look like someone else, like something else. Although the reflection showed her same face and same medium size curvy body shape, the reflection’s features were much darker and more defined. Her caramel toned skin suddenly became a darker grayish color as her hazel eyes turned almost completely black and looked as if they were more sunken into her face. Brown-haired Stella gazed at the black-haired image that had exposed cheekbones and a faded, ghost-like face all expressing a look of disapproval and hatred. As Stella jumped back in fear, nearly hitting the back of her head on the bathroom wall, she tried to collect herself while closing her eyes to calm her breathing and rapid heartbeat! She figured that it was just an hallucination from her being over-worked and quickly washed up, turned off the bathroom light and ran towards her bedroom, quickly throwing herself on the bed and covering herself with her blanket trying desperately to fall asleep and forget what had just happened.  
The next day Stella woke up feeling like she had been hit on the head with a hammer! She could not sleep all through the night because she kept having a repetitive nightmare about the image she saw in the mirror. She tossed and turned all night waking up with short breaths and cold sweats as she struggled to get her body to relax. This went on for hours until her alarm went off and she was forced to drag herself out of bed for work. She walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash up, all the while she avoided looking directly into the mirror. She was still shaken up about last night and wanted to get to work as soon as possible to distract herself. After she got dressed, she quickly grabbed her car keys from the table and headed to her favorite café to grab a cup of coffee before work. As she drove the road started to blur a bit due to her lack of sleep, but she was still able to reach her destination safely. She opened her car door and began walking towards the entrance of the café, until she noticed something strange…  
As she was walking past the full window at the café, she saw the same image from the night before! Once again, it was her same body with the same clothing, but her face resembled something of a ghost or demon! She jumped back, startled then moved back closer to her reflection staring into it deeply, as she tried to understand why it reappeared. The image was not going away, and she can feel goosebumps beginning to form on her skin. She blinked once, then twice but nothing was changing. She stood frozen beside her reflection until she was interrupted by a knock on the window coming from inside the café. She jumped back in fear until she realized it was one of the workers gesturing for her to enter the building. She did not know why this image kept re-appearing, but she just shook it off and blamed it on her lack of sleep. What Stella did not realize is that it was something much more serious and frightening….  
After quickly ordering her coffee she then headed to work looking down at her feet the entire time while walking back to her car. Once she arrived at work, she quickly bursts into the building without giving out even a single hello. It was unlike her to just rush into work like that but that image in her reflection left her really shaken up. She walked into her office setting her stuff down before settling in her chair exhaling deeply. She gazed at her desk and reached for her cup of coffee taking another sip hoping it would give her enough energy to get through the day.  
Stella’s thoughts were quickly interrupted by a co-worker knocking their hand on her desk. She quickly turned to face them; it was will. He was summoning her to the lab where yet, another dead body needed her attention and analysis. Once they entered the lab, the chill of air vents flowed throughout the room, sending shivers down Stella’s body. There was a table in the middle of the room with a cold, grayish male corpse resting on it. Normally she was used to seeing dead bodies during her everyday duties, but this time she felt different. After seeing that strange reflection of herself, everything around her began to look strange as if she were in some sort of twilight zone. She cleared her head and walked towards the evidence bench as she peaked down at the corpse’s face. He looked as if he was in his mid-thirties and healthy. It was a shame about his passing; he was killed by multiple stab wounds in his chest after a home invader broke into his apartment. Stella and Will gave each other a quick glance before removing the cover from the corpse’s body. They started to analyze the body as they sampled blood from the opened wounds on his chest. Stella’s eyes were losing focus and kept shifting over to the dead man’s face. She looked down once more, forcing herself to focus on what she was doing, collecting skin and hair samples to test in the lab.  
She carefully analyzed the body and collected all the DNA samples she needed, with will’s help of course. She continued to scan the body with her eyes, for any hidden wounds, but there was none to be found. Her eyes flickered to the corpse’s face once more as she began to feel light-headed. The corpse’s face began to shape into a moving blur and stella was suddenly losing her balance. Her vision started to fade as dizziness overcame her. In a split second her eyes shifted to the body’s face again as she saw the disturbing image of the altered reflection of herself, but this time it was a darker grayish color resembling the corpse and it’s eyes were sunken in even more as if it didn’t have any! Stella jumped back in fear before gasping for air and falling unconscious to the floor…


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath of the event happening in chapter 1! The plot will thicken with questions and fright!

Aftermath:  
Stella’s limp body laid unconscious on the cold, tile floor as Will struggled to wake her up. He grabbed at her shoulders as her body slightly swayed back and forth, but it still did not wake her. He then grabbed an empty evidence bench and lifted her body from the ground carefully placing it down on the table. He patiently stood next to her until she finally woke up in a rush, as her body suddenly sprung upwards as she let out a loud, fearful gasp!  
Will jumped back in shock as he stared down at Stella`s trembling body. Her eyes shined in the florescent light as they began to water. A single tear fell from each of her eyes as she blankly gazed at the ceiling. Will leaned over her and waved his hand in front of her face in a slow motion trying to get her attention. She then snapped out of her haze and directed her eyes towards him.  
Stella still felt dizziness fog her mind but managed to mumble out a few words to will. “wh-what h-happened?” she said with a faint voice as her eyes scanned the room before she realized she was lying flat on her back. “Why am I lying on an evidence bench!?” stella basically shouted the question at will. “Well, you were lying on the floor.” Will said smugly before explaining to Stella that she suddenly fainted.   
Stella remained quiet as she suddenly remembered what image she had seen that caused her to faint. Will broke the silence with a question “Would you like to leave early today? It’s permissible if you are not feeling well?” Stella took a moment to think it over before looking up at will and saying “No, let’s continue working.” Will hesitated for a moment and said “Are you sure stella? You can go home if you want.” Stella shook her head in disagreement and pushed herself upward and off the evidence bench, back on her feet.  
Stella continued working throughout the day, although there were no more strange occurrences and she had stopped seeing that haunted image, it still felt like the longest day ever! The day became on big blur, a slow, long lasting blur of a day. She looked over at Will, he was a good coworker and a great friend. She never noticed before, but he was quite handsome. His hazelnut toned skin seemed to glow in any kind of light, especially the sunlight. He had a lean, muscular build that his scrubs seemed to cling to. His eyes were the kind of green found in an emerald diamond and they were always full of light, despite being in such a dull work environment. He was also tall (about 6'1) and kind, he seemed to always bring positivity to the workplace. Stella really looked up to him, as a coworker and a person in general.  
She realized that she had been staring for too long and snapped out of it before Will noticed and went back to focusing on her work. At this point her hands were doing the work while her mind constantly wondered off mainly due to exhaustion, confusion, and shock.  
It was finally time to clock out and Stella was ecstatic! She quickly scanned her ID card to clock out and headed straight to the door. Before she can open the door to exit the building, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see will giving her a wide grin. "Wanna grab a bit to eat? If you're feeling better, of course." He said while still grinning. Stella thought to herself before answering, she was very tired, but didn't want to seem rude, plus she loved his company! "um...sure!" she answered with a bit of hesitation but smiled back to be polite.  
They drove to a restaurant nearby; it was a burger place called "Big-Burger" but the name fit because the burgers they served were huge! It was perfect because as soon as they entered the restaurant, stella's stomach started growling and she realized how hungry she was so the bigger the better! Will found a table near the window with a nice view of the streetlight reflecting light on the windowpane. It was nice for stella to be out with a friend especially after the stressful few days she has been having.  
They both sat in an awkward silence for a few moments after ordering their food. Stella started to break the silence but will cut her off. "Stella what exactly happened at work today?" he asked with a worried look on his face. Stella looked up at him in shock before stumbling over words "um wh-what do you mean exactly?" she asked foolishly. "I mean when you fainted stella, what made you pass out like that?" he asked in a stern voice with a serious expression on his face. She paused for a moment before answering with a quick lie "To be honest will, I didn't sleep very well and I fainted due to low energy and probably low blood sugar, but this burger and fries should help that!" Stella gave him a shrug and hoped that he would believe her cover story that she made up on the spot.  
"Well okay then, just make sure you get proper rest next time because our type of work requires focus and I was really worried about you" he said with a bit of sadness in his voice. "Don't worry, I'm sleeping early tonight!" Stella answered quickly before the awkward silence returned as they ate their food while giving each other small glances between each bite. Stella could not help but feel bad for Will seeing her in that state, but she just tried to enjoy her meal and forget about it. Nothing seemed to get better by her dwelling on it. They started to talk again while enjoying their meal with some talk about work, jokes and lots of smiles and laughter. This is a prime example of how Will, was good company, he could always make her smile.  
The rest of the time at the restaurant was nothing but fun and stella forgot all about the "incident" at work. Will picked up the check, just like the gentleman that he was but stella promised that she would get the next meal. They gave their goodbyes and separated to their cars to drive home. The ride home was a blissful one, for a second stella forgot about all the craziness in her head and made it home quickly with her radio blasting and little to no traffic. After about ten minutes she was home and she quickly walked into her apartment, washed up in the bathroom and threw her body on her ready to finally get some proper rest, or so she thought...


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dream or rather a nightmare shocks Stella beyond her wildest imagination!

“Dream of me”  
Hours had past since Stella had fallen into a deep, peaceful sleep. As she laid still on her comfortable mattress, her body began to feel hot, so she threw off her blanket and continued to rest. It was quiet, dark, and still in her mind until she started to drift off into a dream. In her dream she saw a wooden door with a golden handle that seemed to glow and leave a stream of light in its shadow.   
She reached for the doorknob and slowly opened the door to reveal a cute little restaurant that had lightbulbs hanging on a thick tan string from the ceiling and their light illuminated the room. The floor was covered in shiny wooden tables and talk oak wood chairs that glistened under the yellow light. Each table had a small vase containing one single rose in each one. She looked over at a sign near a corner table by the window that read “La rêve” it was the name of the restaurant, and a beautiful one at that. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and if Stella had a choice, she would never leave.   
As Stella walked further into the restaurant, she was suddenly approached by Will. He flashed a grin at her and took her hand, guiding her to the nearest table. “Thought I’d take you to a nicer place for dinner this time” he said with a smile and she was having too much fun to ask questions, so she just nodded and thanked him for his kindness. They talked, laughed, and even saved room for dessert! They looked at the dessert menu with excitement in their eyes and Will began to ask her what kind of sweets she wanted, but his voice sounded different and it kept changing.   
“What would you like for dessert?” Will asked in a low toned almost frightening voice. She was too shocked to answer the question so he asked once more “What would you like for dessert?” his voice having more rasp to it this time, as if he had a scratch in this throat. She was still unable to answer him, this time she wanted to, but if felt like her lips were sealed shut. “What would you like for dessert? What would you like for dessert? What would you like for dessert? WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE FOR DESSERT!?”   
Stella jumped backed at the sudden change to a monstrous voice and shouting coming from Will! She quickly backed away from the table and ran towards the door. He grabbed one of her arms and whispered in her ear in the most frightening low toned scratchy voice “When would you like to die, Stella?” she slowly turned to face Will, but it wasn’t him, it was the haunted reflection she’s seen of herself before and it was now taking over Will’s image. As the shadow figure flashed her a smile, Stella pulled her arm away in a rush and pushed the figure into the table before finally being able to run out of the restaurant!  
She ran outside, but there was no, outside, there was nothing except for darkness. After a few moments of standing in a pitch-black abyss, stella woke up, but not in her bed, instead she was lying on her bathroom floor. It was strange because she did not remember coming to the bathroom in the middle of the night, let alone falling asleep there. The coldness of the bathroom tiles seeped through the materials of her t-shirt sending shivers down her spine. She slowly stood up from the floor as she faced the bathroom mirror as she suddenly froze in fear from what she saw. It was the haunted image that she had seen in her reflection before and this time she was speaking to her. Stella thought she must have still been dreaming, but everything seemed so real! She tried her best to overcome her fear and to listen closely to what her altered reflection was saying through the other side of the mirror. Although it was hard to focus, she stood still and stared at her speaking reflection.   
“Why are you running away from me when you KNOW you need me, stella?” the altered reflection asked. “I. am. Scared. Of. You.” Stella managed to answer her with a broken sentence due to fear. The figure remained calm and began to explain herself to stella. “You should not fear me because I am you, well I’m part of you and you need me to stay balanced. There is no more need for you to be afraid every time you see my face because its, your face. I am just the side of you that almost no one sees because it is full of darkness, but sometimes the darkness can be good for you stella. Without darkness, there would be no light, so like I said, I am here to keep you balanced.”  
Before stella could open her mouth to answer her reflection, she suddenly woke up! it was another dream or rather nightmare. She scanned the room with her eyes before lying back down, but when she turned to the side, she saw an exact replica of herself lying next to her on the bed! She jumped up once more and suddenly heard BEEP BEEP BEEP! Her eyes opened again, this time she looked over to her phone as her alarm went off for work. She slowly got up from her bed and turned off the alarm, once again looking around to make sure that everything was real. She lifted two fingers towards her face and slowly pinched her own cheek quite hard “ow!” she yelled out! She was awake for sure now and now her face hurt. She hurriedly washed up, got dressed, but took a moment to pause and look in the bathroom mirror once more. This time nothing was showing up and even though she was still terrified, she wanted to know more.


	4. Chapter 4

Hallucinations  
Stella stared at her beeping alarm as her hands were still shaking from her fearful nightmare. She took a deep breath and tried to shake the lingering thoughts of her scary dream out of her mind. She then reached out and tapped the snooze button on her phone before slowly lifting her blanket off and getting up to get ready for work. As she stood up, she began to feel dizzy, something felt different today…  
She quickly washed up and got dressed, ready to start her day, although she was moving in a rush, she felt as if everything was slowed down. She headed for the door, but as she reached for the doorknob, it started to shake as her vision blurred causing her to nearly fall over. She quickly snapped out of it and forced herself to stand up straight and focus! The view of the door became clear again and she was able to exit her apartment safely.  
“That was weird.” Stella mumbled to herself as she approached her car in the parking lot. As she reached the door she paused and looked all around her, but there was nothing and no one there. She felt as if she were being followed, but it could just be paranoia from the night before. She quickly got into her car and drove to work, she sipped from her cup of coffee as she used her other hand to drive.   
She watched the road in silence as other cars passed her by, she was driving the speed limit, but felt like she was hardly moving. The strange feeling started to come back as she felt goosebumps started to form on her skin. She felt like someone was following her again, so she quickly checked the rearview mirror, but there was nothing there except for an empty back seat and a man in his car struggling to drink a hot cup of coffee. She tried to stop overthinking and continued to drive, forcing herself to only focus on the road and nothing else.  
After a few moments of driving, Stella approached a red light and sat in silence, keeping her vision on the road and nothing else. She took a deep breath and tried to shake off the memory of the nightmare she had the night before. She couldn’t keep herself together though, her hate rate sped up while she started hyperventilating and her hands gripped the wheel even tighter as they started to shake. She kept taking deep breathes, trying to convince herself that last night was just a nightmare and the past few days she was just overworked and too tired to function properly. She told herself these things inside her head, even though deep down she knew they weren’t true…  
After a few minutes, she was able to steady her breathing and relax the muscles in her hands. She felt okay for a moment, but just for a moment. A dark figure suddenly popped up in the rearview mirror causing Stella to jump up and scream! She swerved the car and pulled over to the side of the street, almost getting hot by three other cars! After she pulled over, she jumped out of the car and took another deep breath before slowly opening the door to the back seat of her car.  
Stella watched as the car door slowly opened as she pulled on it in caution. Her whole body trembled as she feared for her life. If someone was really in her car, she should have called the police, but it was too late for that, now she had to face it on her own. The world seemed to pause around as the car door slowly fell open to reveal…nothing. There was noting and no one there, it must have just been a hallucination.  
Stella stared at the empty seat, feeling totally defeated and helpless because of her OWN mind. She slammed the car door shut and climbed back into the driver’s seat as she headed to work. Luckily, she made it to work without crashing into anything or anyone as her mind remained scrambled and terrified. When she arrived at work, she spotted Will in the parking lot. She quickly ran towards him and jumped into his arms, embracing him in a hug. It was such a relief for her to see him after what she just went through, he was the only one she felt safe around.  
“What’s all this affection for? Not that I’m complaining.” Will said as he chuckled while he slowly joined the hug by slowly wrapping him arms around her waist. “I’m…just…happy to see you, that’s all!” Stella mumbled into Will’s chest as he continued to hold her in a tight hug. They stood still in each other’s embrace for a few moments before Will broke the silence. “Well, as much as I’m enjoying this Stella, we should probably clock in before our they start docking our pay.” The hug abruptly ended when Stella quickly pulled away and mumbled “Sorry” before they both headed inside.  
They walked in silence for a few minutes, Stella couldn’t help but to feel awkward after ambushing Will with that hug. She was lost in her thoughts before being interrupted by a light tap on her shoulder. She then looked over to will who was flashing a wide grin. “There was no need to apologize for the hug, Stella, I really enjoyed it. In fact, you should suggest that morning routine to our boss so maybe grumpy Gary won’t be so uptight all the time.”   
Stella looked back at will as the corners of her mouth lifted upward forming a smile as she let a high-pitched laugh. Her coworkers began to stare at her, but she continued to laugh, this went on for about a minute and a half. Will walked Stella to her desk as she finally settled down as she sat in her desk chair. “Meet me in the lab in 10 minutes.” Will said as he was still chuckling a bit due to Stella’s laughing scene in the middle of her coworkers. Stella fixed her posture and began to check her emails. The first email was from a “Doctor Selene Jacobs” about some forms that Stella needed to fill out. She didn’t know of any Selene Jacobs at her work, maybe she was new.  
The email consisted of a phone number to send the doctor a message for my information about the documents that needed to be signed. Stella found a bit unprofessional, but she texted the number anyway and the doctor replied right away telling stella to meet her in the inventory room at 2:00pm. Something about this message gave Stella a weird feeling as she felt her stomach churn as she stared at her phone screen, but she figured it was her paranoia from earlier this morning still getting to her head. Before she thought about it any longer, she replied with an “Okay” before heading to the lab to meet Will and begin some more DNA analysis.   
The ticking clock on the wall ticked the time away, but every move Stella made somehow seemed everlasting. Daily analysis passed, lunch break past, more tedious passed by and it was finally 2:00pm! It was time to meet with the new doctor, “Selene Jacobs” and Stella wondered what she had to tell her that was so important and who the lady really was. Stella took off her lab coat and headed to the inventory room to meet the new doctor.  
As she entered the inventory room, she suddenly jumped back as she was startled that Dr. Selene was already there. “So, you’re new here at the forensic lab, Selene, you are “Selene Jacobs” right?” Stella asked politely. “Um…my name is Sarah, “Sarah Johnson” and I just wanted to meet you here because I need you to sign this form agreeing to train me and allow me to shadow you as the new employee.” Sarah said with a blank expression on her face. “What? The email said “Selene Jacobs” here, take a look! Stella said as she whipped out her phone only to open her email and see that she was requested to meet a new employee and sign a trainee form by someone named “Matthew Johnson” and the texts she received about meeting was also from Matthew and he wanted to meet by her desk tomorrow morning…  
“What this must be wrong! How can this happen? The email and text must be here! I just saw it this morning!” Stella shouted as she suddenly looked up from her phone screen only to see that Sarah Johnson was gone. She leaned her back against the wall before bursting out the door and heading straight to her boss’ office. As she suddenly barged into her boss’ office(while he was eating his tuna sandwich for lunch) she demanded to see his personal record of office emails to double check the name of the woman who approached her earlier. Stella’s boss double and even triple checked all email records for a “Selene Jacobs” and “Sarah Johnson” but there was no record of them. There was only a record of a trainee named “Matthew Johnson” who sent an email to Stella and he was coming in the next day to train, it showed that on her email and text records as well. Stella thanked her boss for his cooperation and slowly walked out of his office completely distraught. Stella began to wonder if she was going crazy…


End file.
